Jezebel
In a bizarre, completely epic, seemingly made-for-the-big screen true story featured in Wired, a 45-year-old former Marine living in upstate New York named Thomas Montgomery visited gaming site Pogo with a fabricated identity: that of Tommy, an 18-year-old Marine about to be sent to Iraq. In a chat room, he met Jessi, an 17-year-old West Virginian girl, with whom he fell in love over IM. There were times when Tommy couldn't be online because he was "on duty" — but that was really because Montgomery had a wife, two daughters and a job in a factory. Jessi, however, had more free time on her hands, so she would make video montages of herself for Tommy, set to Aerosmith power ballads. About eight months after they'd met online, Tommy proposed. Jessi accepted.
He sent her flowers; she sent him G-strings and dog-tags engraved "Tom & Jessi Always & Forever." Tommy told Jessi to send his mail to Thomas Montgomery, his "father."
Montgomery was consumed by his marathon online chats with Jessi. While at work, he didn't stop talking about her, telling colleagues that he planned to leave his wife and move to West Virginia. In the evening, he would chase his daughters off the computer, planting himself in front of the screen late into the night.At some point, Montgomery's wife, Cindy, discovered some of the items Jessi had sent. "I cannot believe is that you are living out some bizarre fantasy — as father and son," she wrote in a note to her husband. Cindy also wrote a letter to Jessi, enclosing a family photo and explaining that there was no "Tommy," only a 45-year-old man, his fantasies, his wife and two daughters (ages 14 and 16).
Jessi didn't know what to think, so she contacted a coworker Tommy had mentioned also frequented Pogo: Brian Barret. She wanted to know if Tommy was real or fake. Brian, 22, told Jessi the truth: Tommy didn't exist. But Brian and Jessi started messaging regularly. And that's when things took a turn for the worse. Brian boasted about IMing Jessi at work, and, not surprisingly, Montgomery started "acting erratic." And one day, as he was leaving work, someone shot Brian three times, killing him. Montgomery was charged with the murder, and while detectives were investigating, they also found Jessi's phone number on Brian's phone, so they contacted her.
"Jessi" turned out to be a 45-year-old mother of two who had used her daughter's screen name and pictures in all of the contact with Tommy and Brian.
There's several things to be learned from this story, among them that one should never, ever communicate with anyone in West Virgina, that no one left in the world, save Ashton Kutcher and The Girls Next Door, wants to have sex with people over 45, and that To Catch A Predator's Chris Hanson will probably have a job for all of eternity.
An IM Infatuation Turned to Romance. Then the Truth Came Out. [Wired]
Comments
holy mother of christ!
Upon reading the second to last paragraph my jaw literally dropped.
this story left me jaw dropped! i know people lie but that was so twisted!
@hystericalredhead: @SarahMC:
Exactly. Oh. My. God.
That story truly was a terrifying thrill ride. Four stars.
I'm speechless... but i will say that i work for Lifetime TV, and will be saying i read it here first when we option this for a movie.
If someone would write a script like this instead of remaking a bunch of old movies that nobody really cared about in the first place, Hollywood wouldnt be losing so much money on their product
Holy fuck. That is twisted.
I think this is my favorite story ever. "Jessi" is the perfect role for Dina Lohan to launch her career.
20 years, 100 pounds and a whole lotta eeewww!
That is so tragic, and pathetic, that I hardly know where to begin, except to point out that the one person in the whole story who told the truth got SHOT?!
I am trying to create a sentence, yet I am in absolute awe! Brian died thinking he had a 17 year old piece of Hotness and Tommy murdered him figuring he stole his virgin pookie.
To make things right, I am thinking that Jessi should be in a cell next to Tommy!
@BAngieB: OMIGOD yesssss!
But who should play 'Tommy'? Tom Sizemore? Micky Rourke? Gary Busey?
ahahahahah ... deserved eachother
Actually, that story sounds like exactly the sort of thing that Law and Order SVU would "rip straight from the headlines"... Come to think of it, I think I saw that episode...
hey, west virginia's not all that bad. not where i live, but still, i have family there and it's okay...really pretty.
@BiscuitDoughJones: Tom Sizemore is perfect. And Brian...hmm. I'll have to think on it.@jewess: In order for it to be a really good movie, we have to find roles for Donna Mills, Melissa Gilbert and maybe Stephen Collins.
Before I pass judgment, I was to see this Hot pussy Jessi!
What kind of sicko sends some stranger pictures of her underage daughter like that? My God, at least use some random model's pictures to masquerade as your fake self. Did she enjoy the idea of some sicko she had never met jacking off to photos of her child in front of a computer screen? On second thought, don't answer that; she probably did.
@BAngieB: Oh...by the time this happens, little Ali (is that right?) will be old enough to star with her mom and be the slutty daughter taking trampy pictures and giving them to her mom. How quaint.
Brian: Brian Austin Green (Former David Silver)
Tommy: Dennis Franz (Former Detective Andy Sipowicz)
Jessi: Melanie Griffith (Ms. Botox Lipz)
Ugggh. read the full article. More gory details, and complete IM transcripts.
I feel for the real Jessie. Her mother has given her some major psychological and emotional damage. That woman should have criminal charges pressed against her.
Hold on. How did the mom send video montages of "herself" set to power ballads? Did she get her daughter to do them? Ewwwwww.
When I was a teenager my mom used to freak out anytime any adult male expressed interest in teenage girls, that's why she didn't like American Beauty. :P I can't imagine a mom using her daughter's photos to have an online affair... sick!!
@Ship_GWB_To_BAGHDAD: See, Brian Austin Green was the image in my head, but then I remembered he's in his mid-30's now.
Oh.My.God. jesus effing christ. what an amazing story.
Come now, let's just keep it light! I kind of think Queen Latifah should play fake Jessie, you know? That would be hot.
@jewess: Good move! LOL
Best Lifetime TV Movie ever!
@BAngieB: And don't forget Meredith Baxter, she can be the attorney or something.
This is pretty much the best story I've read since the fifth Harry Potter book (yes, it's better than six AND seven).
Well executed, Dodai.
@bookishblackgrrl: Totally! And Tracy Gold. And Patrick Duffy.
Does anyone else play the "who is in the Lifetime Movie game"? I will read out the title when I'm on the phone and the other person will guess who is in it.
Holy Shit. I'm slowly trying to get my mouth closed again. I cannot believe that it didn't end when she found out he was an old dude. OH MY GOD! I cannot get over this shit. So crazy.
@BAngieB: Hello - how could you forget Kate Jackson???????
@MadelineB: @JRae:
after the horror of the ending i forgot those details. good point. how did she Get this footage?
Whoa whoa....I haven't even gotten through the second paragraph and I read "At 17, Tommy had raped a cheerleader" as part of his fake introduction?
The really sad thing is that I know of at least two other stories that very nearly put this one to shame. Think "twin" brothers, who were "separated at birth" but "found each other during a chance encounter on a Hawaiian beach," but never told their respective families and friends about each other (even though they worked together at their "multimillion dollar company").
Alas, the "divorced" one developed an "inoperable brain tumor" and, naturally, "died" two weeks after being diagnosed. It probably won't surprise the reader to learn that his "surviving twin (the married one)" fell in love with the dead one's girlfriend (whom he met, naturally, online) and is currently in the middle of "leaving his ailing wife" for said girlfriend.
suggested title for the Lifetime episode: "Alias VS. Predator."
I know I'm not supposed to use this kind of language, but talk about a cluster f**k. The deeper you get into it, the more screwed up it gets. Sort of like a Country Club in the South. Everyone is screwing everyone else, but thinks nobody else knows.
OMFG. By the end, I was half expecting "Jessi" to be a 59 year old prison inmate somewhere in the deep South.
DODAI...hilarious.
I actually gasped out loud when I got to the final twist.
This is some fucked up ish.
I would suggest Brian Kerwin ("Birdie) as Brian, but as someone around "Tommy's" (and Brad Pitt's) true age, I know he's probably too old.
@MadelineB: Exactly.
You have to wonder, did the pictures already exist (and Mom was sending her daughter's files) or did she stick her kid in front of a webcam and say, "Here's some Aerosmith...gyrate around, I'm gonna send this to MTV and "Americas Next Top Model" for you."
Mother and father candidates of the year...
wow. just wow.
@bookishblackgrrl: Oooooh, or Swoosie Kurtz!
@Archetype: I know, right? That's the fake guy that's supposed to make a 17 year-old swoon?? A rapist???
The most ironic thing is, in real life these two winners would have been perfect for each other. Same age, same level of crazy...
@BAngieB: OH MY GOD GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HEAD!!!!!
it's like the pina colada song, but um, different.
Wow. I just had surgery on Monday and these crazy mofos nearly made me pop my stitches.
Casting: Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter-Birney could reunite for a Lifetime coup!